Fun News!!

Ok I know I'm only a monthly poster but we have had some exciting things going on. 1st off We are going to have a GIRL!!!! We are so excited. I have been thinking of names for a while now boy or girl. well now we can focus on just girl names. I have liked McKenna for a long time with a lot more names also but the other day Jodi and I with the boys were in Costco and on our way out I told Jodi that I liked the name Morgan also. We only mentioned it a couple of times. and when we got in the Car and Jodi asked Seth which name he liked better McKenna or Morgan and he was all I like Morgan better. so ok we laughed and left it at that. If you ask Seth what he wants to name is baby sister is will say Morgan and is very defensive about it. On our way home from Snowflake, Jodi text me and asked me if he was still on the Morgan kick and so we asked him once again, and of course he said Morgan and we said why, and he answered because thats a Beautiful name. It was so cute. (we are not stuck on that name though).

Seth got to go up to Snowflake a couple of weeks ago and spend the week with Grandma Kristi and Grandpa Mike and of course Gavin and Bo. He loved it. One incident that Kristi told me that happened was Mike was coming home to fix a part of their porch and so she told Seth to go out and start pulling it apart and wait for Grandpa to come home. well he sat on the porch for a little bit and then came marching in the house, walked past grandma and straight down to the laundry room, grabbed a screwdriver and marched right back out to the front porch and continued to take apart the porch until grandpa got there. that is so typical of him. he loves to work with tools. He is a smart little boy and knows what things are for. He had so much fun with you all.

This past weekend we went to Snowflake for Thanksgiving and we had so much fun. we got there on Wednesday and we just hang out. on Thursday we went to the church and the Roger family played basketball and Volleyball they had fun. then about 2 pm we ate lunch and stuffed our self with delicious food. thanks everyone it was awesome. then we visited with everyone and watched the "Aunts" exchange their ordiments they were really cute. after that we cleaned up then went and listened to Uncle Karl and Megan play the Piano. They did AWESOME!!! they are amazing at the piano. we left and went home for a couple of hours then went to Aunt Bets and Uncle Shea's house to watch a "Get Smart" it was a funny movies. It got over at about 8 or so and the Russell Clan left because we wanted to get to bed so we could get up at 3:30 am to go to Winslow to hit the shopping. we were there about 5 min before the doors opened. Jay, Brittany, Mom and I went and Aunt Kim and Allee went in their truck. We made a plan of who would go where and get what so we could get everything we wanted. well I was after a Trampoline if I got that and only that I would be happy (of course I had other things to get to but) well I went fighting the crowd and finally found them. there was one left and there was people standing around it so I asked them if it was available and they said no they were putting it in a cart right now. I couldn't have been more bummed I was really sad. Well in the mean time My mom, Jodi, and Ciminy where in the valley looking for them also and they called and said they were all out at the walmart they were at. so I was really bummed. I went on my way to find other things I wanted. Well I get a call from Kristi and said "go stand by the trampolines and just wait Aunt Kim just called her and said she heard a associate say they were going to bring out more trampolines. so I went over there and stood there waiting. I was about to just give up and I saw these 2 guys in Navy shirts with no name tags with 3 trampolines on this cart coming down an isle by where the trampolines where. So I asked them if those were for sale and they said yes they are the last 3 and I said awesome I know I want 2 and maybe all 3 so I called my mom to see if she wanted one also. while I was on the phone another associate came up to them and said they needed one of those in this cart. and the guy said she might want all 3 and the other associate said "oh they have to be physically here" I thought am I not physical or what. well mom said no so that made it easier cuz I would have had to put up a fight but luckily I didn't. well I told those guys that I wanted the other 2 (one for me and one for Cim)and lets go check out right now so they are in my name. so I did that and had to just sit there on them so no one would take them and I couldn't finish my shopping. luckily I had most everything in Jay's cart. It was fun. I'm glad it worked out the way it did. we were home by 7:45 so we made good timing. we just hung out around the house most of the day and put up Kristi's Christmas decorations. its looks so good. I wish I had half of the stuff she does. We love you Russells and thanks for such a wonderful weekend. Well we will keep truckin along. Chauncy only has 3 more days of being in class. he will be done next Tuesday for the semester. YIPPEE!!!!! all is well with us and I hope all is well with you.

~Shar

PRESTON'S 2!!!

On the 20th of October my little Preston turned 2. He is growing up so fast. He is my fiesty boy. He is learning so fast and catching on to things really good. He is talking pretty good and you can understand him most of the time. He is a joy to be around, you always can get a good laugh when your around him. he can hold his own with big brother. I am so thankful that he is in our family. he has such a sweet spirt and brings so much love in our home. For his birthday went to the park and played for a while and then that evening we had a little party for him at Grammys and had a ice cream cake. Thanks everyone for coming. We love you.

Putt Putt Cars!!

A couple of weeks ago, it was on conference weekend. My Grandma and Dad made a big deal about being up early on sunday morning to see the putt putt cars. I was ok if I'm up I will see them. I was thinking I would just look out my window and see these train cars go by. Well at 7 am. yep the whole family was still asleep, dad calls to see if the boys are awake yet. I was like nope we all were still asleep. he said the putt putt cars are just leaving safford. so I was ok we have at least 15 minutes so in the mean time the boys woke up and we got up and I looked out the window and saw my parents car down by the railroad tracks so I called and asked if it was something that we would want to be down at the tracks. of course they said yes. So we got in the car and we went down there. as soon as we got there we decided to go over and sit with Grandma and Grandpa. Uncle Ric, Aunt Jann, Heidi, Carson, Peyton, Parker and Gunner where all over there so we went and sat with them. Dad left to go see where the putt putt cars where and when he came back he said they are in Thatcher. so we got a good little visit in before they got there. well about 20 minutes later grandpa stood up and saw them coming. Well Dad decided he wanted to take the little boys for a ride. Well his ride was across the highway to get closer. Nice of him to take the excitment away huh? well we walked to the highway and saw the putt putt cars. they where so cute. Nothing what I expected. There was just some plain ol' ones and some that were a Fire truck, police car (with sirons) and others just were painted cute. the kids enjoyed them as so did the adults.

I know, I know

It has been FOREVER since I have posted. I am sitting here Substituting a class and they are doing Geometry, And I have no idea how to do it so I gave them the worksheet and I came back here and sat down, and was thinking of what I can do, so I decided to post. I'll give you a little update on our family. Chauncy has started school and is enjoying it for the most part. his schedule is going to get really busy especially during October. he will be down in the valley for clinicals for almost every weekend. I have been keeping busy substituting for Pima. I enjoy it for the most part. Thanks to Ciminy I know my kids are in good place where they have so much fun that they don't want to leave. I haven't been feeling to good for the past oh lets say 11 weeks. Yep you got it I am Expecting our 3rd child. We are really excited. We are due April 5, 2009. I am ready for the evening sickness, I was told to try 1/2 Unisom and a Vitamin C so I have been taking that right before I go to bed and I wake-up feeling ok but as the morning goes on I feel better but by the time its 3 or 4 I just feel horriable. Its no fun because that is when I am with chauncy and the boys. hopefully it will get over soon. with the boys i felt sick until is was 18 weeks. I hope this one doesn't go that long. The boys are getting big. Seth still loves to play with Riley, go with Papa, and go to work with Daddy. ok I guess its mostly not being home he likes to go. Preston will be 2 in October. I can't believe my baby is going to be 2 thats crazy. his is a fiesty (sp) one. he holds his own with Seth. He is a Grammy's boy. if she leaves and he doesn't get to go he throws a fit. Well there is a little bit of an up date. I will try to be better at posting.

Our anniversary trip!!

Chauncy Have been married for 4 wonderful years. our anniversary was on the 16th of July and his birthday was on the 17th. Chauncy has been looking for a horse to rope off of because the one he has now is not good in the arena. well he found this Mare who just has a horse colt and the lady said she would sell the mare for $1000 and the colt for $300 we think we got a great deal. So for our anniversary we decided to go get this mare and colt by ourselves, we told Seth he could have the baby horse for his birthday so he was ok with us going by ourselves and leaving him. we went to mesa on Friday and left our Kiddos with Jodi in Pima. we went and at at El Paso Thanks Jodi for the certificate. it was really good. we stayed the night at aunt Linda's and got up early and left for mayor on Saturday morning. we met JC and Ladawn at the McDonald's there in Mayor and ate breakfast with them. it was so good to see them again. we miss hanging out with them like we did when they lived in Pima. anyways we made it to where the mare and colt were. we saw them and just fell in love right there. we let them get to know us a little and then we started to load them in the trailer. well the mare loaded really well but the colt didn't want to go out of the gate. we finally just let the colt be and after an hour he finally went in on his own. they traveled really well. We were in mesa getting gas and a lady walked out of the store and asked Chauncy if those where our horses and he said yes. she asked him "could we feed them something like a chip" Chauncys like I'd rather you not. your more then welcome to go pet them though. so they did and couldn't believe they were seeing a baby horse they were funny. Well we got back to Pima about 5 and unloaded the horses and headed up to Thatcher for the fireworks and to see our boys. Seth was so excited to see his baby horse. so on Sunday morning we took the boys out to see them and they got to feed the baby horse we named him stellar and her name is sage. They just love helping daddy with the horses.

Seth is 3

On July 12 Seth Moroni Russell turned 3 years old. I can't believe that he is 3 already. He is such a joy in our lives. he is so much fun to be around. He keeps us on our toes thats for sure. I am so glad the is is apart of my life. I don't know what I would do if he wasn't.

Things Seth loves

1. go with his daddy to work. (thats where he is right now)
2. go play with Riley
3. Go with Papa Scott

4. rope Preston

5. Dora

Things he says that are cute

1. I ammmm

2. I won't tryy(Cry) mom

3. Who's that

4. What him name

5. what him say

6. Who you textin

We rented the Pima Swimming pool for his birthday party. We had so much fun. Seth was a little dare devil. he wanted to jump off the low dive, so ok I let him do it so then Preston wanted to go off of it. so he did. Well Seth wanted to be really brave and go off the high dive. Yep he did with no hesitation. ston wanted to also but when he got up there and looked down he was like no way am I going off of that. We had a blast there and it was worth every penny to rent it. Thanks everyone for coming.

We had a Blast....

OK OK!!!! I know I’m a slacker blogger. It’s been over a month that I have posted and I got told that I need to up date yesterday so here I am. Beware it’s going to be long.

Our trip to the beach was so much fun. Mom and Dad rented a Beach house back in March and we waited anxiously for June 21 to come. Seth kept asking me “Mom can we go to the beach today” I would have to explain to him that we had to wait. Well on the 20th of June we left Pima and went to Mesa to break up the trip. We stayed at my cousin’s house that was big enough for the whole family to stay in and each family have their own room which was nice. We played in their pool that night.

(Saturday) We got up early and went to Jodi’s house and she had breakfast all ready for us. After we ate we loaded up her stuff in the Trailer that was already PACKED clear full with all of our stuff. It’s amazing how much stuff you take when you have little kids for a week. We left around 9 am and got to the Huntington Beach around 6 that evening. We took a tour of the 4 bed 3.5 bath house and had to draw straws to see who got what bedroom. Mom, Dad and Jodi got the master room then JJ and Marlo got the next biggest room (boy was he excited). Then Chauncy and I got the last room upstairs. Steven and Ciminy got the only room downstairs. It was tinny so they put the 2 kids out in the living room. It worked out great. When we got there we tried and tried to turn the air down so it would cool off but guess what the house didn’t have and AC or a swamp cooler you had to depend on the outside air and it was stinkin’ hot. The renter guy said we hit a heat wave and it should pass in a couple of days. So to cool off we went to the beach. The kids loved it but weren’t so sure of the water rolling in at them. It was cute they would run to the water and as soon as the water would start to come in they would run from it. This happened all week. This was kind of nice because you didn’t have to worry so much about them getting in the water.

(Sunday) today was nice because we just laid around doing nothing and got caught up with rest from traveling all day on Saturday. We were going to go to the LA temple and walk around it for our Sunday activity, but it was an hour away and the kids had already had it with their car seats. We each took a day for meals and Sunday was my day. We had biscuits and gravy for breakfast and tostadas for lunch. At Huntington Beach they have fire pits so you can build fires so we decided it would be fun to do tin foil dinners so we brought wood clear from Pima to make a fire and do the dinners. We started the fire around 5 or so and while it was burning we went and played in the sand and the boys of course had to take the roping dummy and rope some. We were going to make a sign that said “will trade roping lessons for surfing lessons” I think that would have been so funny but they didn’t take the dummy again. We ate late because the coals took a while to be ready. After dinner we made smores. They were good it was kind of hard to see what you were doing in the dark. The beach closes at 10 pm so he had to hurry and clean up and get out of there before they closed the parking lot.

(Monday) the guys decided they wanted to surf so they went to thrift stores to buy one we thought it would be cheaper then to rent them. While the guys were shopping for surf boards us girls went and set up on the beach. We got all settled and were playing in the sand when the guys finally showed up with NO surf boards. They said that the cheapest was $120 so it wouldn’t be worth it so they went and rented 2 for $35 each for the day or $12 per hour. Well they surfed for and hour and the lifeguard came and told them that the south side of the pier closed at 10 am to surfers so we had to make a choice of moving to the other side of the pier of to take the surfboards back. We decided it would be best to just take them back so we didn’t have to clean up all of our stuff and move since we were going to clean it up and go for lunch in a couple of hours. So we just played with the boogie boards. After a while we went back to the house and ate lunch. We puts kids down for naps and just rested but not the guys then went back to the beach and had some more fun. After naps we went back to be with the guys and let the little ones play in the sand. It gets tiring when the waves keep wiping you out. So us girls could only handle a little bit at a time. Except for Jodi she is a go getter and just loves to have fun whether it was tiring or not.

(Tuesday) we went to Sea World. It was an 1.5 hour drive. The kids traveled pretty good. Seth cried a little bit because he gets so sick of his car seat that he gets mad. We all had on red matching shirts. So we could find each other easier and it worked. I was grouchy at first because my kids were crying and I was frustrated because here we are at Sea World and its suppose to be fun and they are crying. They finally calmed down and so did I. We 1st went and saw the Clydesdale horses. They are HUGE. Then we went and saw Shamu or (Shampoo) as Seth called him. We sat probably about 10 rows from the bottom. They were perfect seats we were close and we got soaked. It was so much fun. It was then that I finally relaxed and could enjoy everything. After that we saw the dolphins, Sharks, Polar bears, the walrus, and the pets place. They all were really cool to watch. I would like to go back again sometime. About 4 all the adults, Justin and Seth except for mom and dad went on the ship wreck ride they stayed with the little ones and Riley(he wasn’t tall enough). It was fun we got soaked. Ciminy really didn’t want to get all that wet but guess what she was the one that the water hit every time. The last show we saw was of seals and their show was making fun of all the other shows it was really funny. We laughed though the whole thing. The little boys wanted to go play on a jungle gym thing so we went over there for about a half and hour or so they loved it. We left and went to get something to eat. We got in line at in and out burger but it was to long so guess where we ate McDonalds (YIPPY) NOT!! We got home about 11 pm so we all just crashed.

(Wednesday) The guys wanted to rent surf boards again so they decided to get up early and get them rented so they could surf all day. At 10 or so I was asking if any one wanted to go but nobody did well about 10:30 dad got ready to go so Ciminy and I decided to hurry and get ready and go. Ciminy and I packed all the stuff out there by ourselves and got set up. While dad tried to find someone he could pay for parking. We saw the guys out here in their bright Blue, Red and Yellow shirts so we sat camp up where they were. After we got set up we were playing in the sand with the little boys and looked up and we couldn’t see the guys anymore so I got up and was looking around for them. I finally found them about 200 yrds down the way from where we were so we went and got them to come where we were. They stayed with the kids while Cim and I went and had some fun in the water. They were pretty good about giving us a break from the kids and letting us go have fun too. (that was one of the stipulations of the trip). About 2:30 mom, Jodi, Marlo, Kashlee and Aiden We were smart this time and brought the food with us down to the beach so we didn’t have to pack up and leave. We stayed there until 5:30 that’s when the surfboards had to be back by then we were all ready to go anyways. We went home and got ready and went and ate at Joe’s Crab shack. Dad, Marlo and I weren’t very advertous. Dad and I ate steak and Marlo had a hamburger. Chauncy ate Shrimp and Fish. JJ had a sampler plate with some fish, Crab cakes and something else and then Steven, Ciminy, Jodi and mom all had crab legs. They enjoyed them.

(Thursday) We were going to go to the San Diego Zoo but we didn’t want to travel another 1.5 hours with the kids and car seats. So we decided to go to Raging Waters (water park) It was about noon when we got here so we ate lunch before we went in. we saw a in and out burger and went to go there and guess what? the line was to long again. So we went across the street and guess what it was? You got it McDonalds. I wasn’t to happy about that. But oh well. We had fun there they had a ton of slides. They even had a slide that was 7 stories and it went straight down. Yea they all went on it already and then took me back there. Cim wouldn’t go on it again but they made me. I can now say I went on it and I don’t need to go on it again. All the couples took turns watching the little kids. they had a perfect spot for little ones they had so much fun. It worked out perfect so everyone could have fun. It was fun even watching the kiddos. The lifeguards there were HORRIABLE!!!!! There was 2 different times the lifeguards could have helped out but just stood there. One time Kashlee went under so I hurried and got her up well in the mean time Preston was about 5 yrds from me and he went under right as I was getting Kashlee. There was an adult and the lifeguard right there and you think either one of them helped him up? NOPE!! I run as fast as I could in water and with Kashlee in my hands to get him. The other time Riley got pushed down the slide and wasn’t ready and went under the water and couldn’t stand up. We were about 10 to 15 yrds away from him and started running and Ciminy had run around the lifeguard who was standing right where Riley was to help him up. Like I said they where HORRIABLE!!! But other then that we had so much fun. We got back to the house about 8 pm and we were all wore out and ready to go to bed.

(Friday) We got up pretty early and headed down to the beach. We wanted to get one more good swim in before we left. It was overcast and the wind was blowing. It was much warmer in the water then it was on the beach. We applied sun screen when we got there but didn’t think about it because it was overcast. Well guess what we all got FRIED!! Luckily it was the last day. About 4:30 we cleaned up camp and went to the house and we all got ready to go take pictures on the beach. I was so excited because I got to use my new camera. I think the pictures turned out pretty good. (So if any of you out there wants your family or kids pictures taken just give me a callJ ) We went home and got all of our stuff packed and in the trailer so we could get up early and get home.

(Saturday) we got up around 6 am and got out of town about 7. we made a couple of potty breaks but other then that we didn’t stop until we got to Peoria where my dad wanted to look at a Belgian horse. We looked at her and dad decided to buy her. After we left there we went to help Jodi move to her new house she is renting. After leaving her we stopped a Bahama Bucks to get a treat for the way home. It was a really fun vacation and would love to do it again. THANKS MOM AND DAD we had a GREAT time!!!!!